Between 1973 and 1983 three volumes of collected essays by Willem C. van Unnik appeared under the title Sparsa Collecta. All the essays in these volumes had been published between 1930 and 1970. The editors of the present volume decided to publish a fourth volume with a selection of his later papers, some of which appear here for the first time in English (they were originally published in Dutch).

This volume brings together thirty-two essays by William L. Petersen (1950-2006), offering an overview of his ground-breaking work on, among other things, Tatian’s Diatessaron and New Testament textual criticism.

This collection of essays explores the way early Christians looked back on the apostolic age. It shows the unique authority which that period enjoyed in matters of doctrine, institutions, rites and morality, even in dissident circles.

"Produced within the framework of a consultation ... at the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey, Switzerland from 12-17 September 1975."